Deconstructing disengagement: analyzing learner subpopulations in massive open online courses
| Published | April 2013 |
| Conference | LAK '13: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge Pages 170-179 |
| Country | United States, North America |
ABSTRACT
As MOOCs grow in popularity, the relatively low completion rates of learners has been a central criticism. This focus on completion rates, however, reflects a monolithic view of disengagement that does not allow MOOC designers to target interventions or develop adaptive course features for particular subpopulations of learners. To address this, we present a simple, scalable, and informative classification method that identifies a small number of longitudinal engagement trajectories in MOOCs. Learners are classified based on their patterns of interaction with video lectures and assessments, the primary features of most MOOCs to date.In an analysis of three computer science MOOCs, the classifier consistently identifies four prototypical trajectories of engagement. The most notable of these is the learners who stay engaged through the course without taking assessments. These trajectories are also a useful framework for the comparison of learner engagement between different course structures or instructional approaches. We compare learners in each trajectory and course across demographics, forum participation, video access, and reports of overall experience. These results inform a discussion of future interventions, research, and design directions for MOOCs. Potential improvements to the classification mechanism are also discussed, including the introduction of more fine-grained analytics.
| Keywords | MOOC · learner engagement · trajectories of engagement |
| Published at | California |
| Language | English |
| Refereed | Yes |
| DOI | 10.1145/2460296.2460330 |
| Export options | BibTex · EndNote · Tagged XML · Google Scholar |
Viewed by 554 distinct readers
CLOUD COMMUNITY REVIEWS
The evaluations below represent the judgements of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Cloud editors.
Click a star to be the first to rate this document
▶ POST A COMMENT
SIMILAR RECORDS
Digging deeper into learners' experiences in MOOCs: Participation in social networks outside of MOOCs, notetaking and contexts surrounding content consumption
Veletsianos, George; Collier, Amy; Schneider, Emily
Researchers describe with increasing confidence what they observe participants doing in massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, our understanding of learner activities in open courses is limited by researchers' ...
Match: Schneider, Emily
MOOCs for professional teacher development
Jobe, William; Östlund, Christian; Svensson, Lars
A MOOC is a trending concept in education that is disrupting traditional methods of
learning consumption. The emergence and use of MOOCs for professional teacher development is still uncommon, but on the verge of ...
Match: MOOC; United States
Massive open online courses for Africa by Africa
Oyo, Benedict; Kalema, Billy Mathias; Conrad, Dianne; McGreal, Rory
Africa is known for inadequate access to all sorts of human needs including health, education, food, shelter, transport, security, and energy. Before the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs), open access to ...
Match: MOOC
Investigating MOOCs through blog mining
Chen, Yong; McGreal, Rory; Conrad, Dianne
MOOCs (massive open online course) is a disruptive innovation and a current buzzword in higher education. However, the discussion of MOOCs is disparate, fragmented, and distributed among different outlets. Systematic, ...
Match: MOOC
Massive Open Online Courses for development (MOOC4D)
Balaji, Venkataraman
Presented by Dr. Ventakaraman Balaji, Director - Technology and Knowledge Management, Commonwealth of Learning, at a Faculty Workshop on a MOOC on Life Skills for Engineers, Kanpur, India, 27 November ...
Match: MOOC
Why MOOCs while dealing with large numbers of distance learners
Aydin, Cengiz Hakan
This webinar focuses on a long-time open and distance learning provider institution’s MOOCs initiative. It does not only provide an insight about the instructional, assessment, and managerial strategies but also ...
Match: MOOC
Open educational resources and MOOCs: The changing face of higher education
Miller, Howard; Jay, Jordan
Match: MOOC
Do MOOCs contribute to student equity and social inclusion? A systematic review 2014–18
Lambert, Sarah
In recent years, hopes that Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) would make access to education fairer faded in the light of research showing MOOCs favoured the already educated and relatively advantaged. This paper ...
Match: MOOC
MOOCs and Open Educational Resources: A handbook for educators
Kaufman, Peter B.
MOOCs and Open Educational Resources: A Handbook for Educators is being made available for university faculty, educators, and educational producers involved in producing online courses. The guide is a step-by-step ...
Match: MOOC
Open learning: 'Communication and Mobile Learning' at Spanish University
Casal, Sonia Santoveña; Silva, Alejandro; Jemni, Mohamed; Kinshuk; Khribi, Mohamed Koutheair
This chapter reports a study of the application of the virtual learning model in a MOOC, ‘Communication and mobile learning’, within the project ‘Elearning, Communication and Open-data: Massive Mobile, Ubiquitous ...
Match: MOOC









